


































» 














THE 

COAL MINER 

A Study of His Struggle to Secure 
Regulated Wages 
in the 

Hocking Valley 


by 


EARL A. SALIERS, Ph. D. 
Instructor in Economics 
in 

Lehigh University. 


Bethlehem Printing Company. 
1912 . 







■A 




Copyright, 1912, by 
Earl A. Saliers. 


Published Jan., 1912. 

Printed in the United States 
of America. 



gGI,A309405 

NO. 2 





PREFACE 


Our prosperity rests upon our coal re¬ 
sources. We are so dependent upon coal for 
our industrial welfare that it has been called 
the mainspring of civilization. Industrial dis¬ 
turbance in the coal fields brings disturbance 
and suffering to those engaged in every in¬ 
dustry and profession. 

But the dependence is reciprocal. The 
miner suffers from every disturbance, whether 
it arises within the coal field or travels to it 
from without. Every wave of depression that 
crosses the country knocks at the door of the 
miner’s cottage, and long shutdowns bring 
hunger and hardship. 

Bad conditions occurring in mining com¬ 
munities as a result of the trend of business, 
as well as those which arise rather from the 
miner’s peculiar situation, have frequently 
been investigated. They have given occasion 
for the acts of many legislatures seeking to 
secure better conditions. 



Whatever is done to ameliorate the hard 
conditions found in many mining communi¬ 
ties is not misplaced charity. Much has al¬ 
ready been done; but much more remains to 
do. The Young Men’s Christian Association 
extends a helping hand, and many evil con¬ 
ditions have been removed by wise laws. But 
the results of unemployment and industrial 
accidents are still frightful. Patience and 
time will be necessary to raise the miner to a 
standard of living such as can exist only un¬ 
der regular employment and proper environ¬ 
ment. 

This study of a well known coal field shows 
what has been done to improve the situation 
by means of organized efiforts to secure just 
wages; and describes some conditions which 
may yet be improved. 

The writer is indebted to Professor Emory 
R. Johnson, of the University of Pennsylva¬ 
nia, and to Professor M. B. Hammond, of the 
Ohio State University, for suggestions and 
criticisms which they have given him. 


CONTENTS. 


PART ONE. 

The Pre-Organization Period.9 

PART TWO. 

The Period of Organization.27 

PART THREE. 

The Truck System of Payment.SI 













THE PRE-ORGANIZATION 
PERIOD. 



PART ONE. 


THE PRE-ORGANIZATION 
PERIOD. 

The Hocking Valley coal field lies in south¬ 
eastern Ohio. It occupies the basin of the 
Hocking River. Here the first white travelers 
and settlers noticed traces of beds of coal, 
even before they had any use for it. We are 
told that it was sometimes burned as a curios¬ 
ity when wood was still abundant. It was 
employed locally for blacksmithing and do¬ 
mestic purposes, but it did not form an article 
of commerce. 

However, with the rapid growth of rail¬ 
roads, the building of cities, and the disap¬ 
pearance of the forests there arose a consid¬ 
erable demand for coal in the United States 
about the middle of the last century. 

Ohio encouraged coal mining by using 
some of her money to build canals which ran 



10 THE PRE-ORGANIZATION PERIOD. 

from the coal fields to many of the large 
cities in the State. One of these canals was 
the Hocking, a branch of the Ohio canal, the 
latter running across the State from Cleve¬ 
land on the lake to Portsmouth on the Ohio 
River. This canal gave an outlet to the coal 
resources of the Hocking Valley which soon 
became the most famous coal field in the 
State. 

Strikes and other disturbances were infre¬ 
quent during the first decades of coal mining 
in Ohio. It was not until 1871 that the Legis¬ 
lature passed a resolution authorizing and di¬ 
recting the governor to appoint a commission 
to investigate ventilation of mines, etc., and 
also the causes of strikes among the miners. 
This commission found that the strikes were 
attributed to a number of causes, among 
which were unfairness in weighing and meas¬ 
uring coal, unequal payment, and dismissals 
of men. The miners generally held that any 
change in wages contemplated by either the 


THE PRE-ORGANIZATION PERIOD. 


11 


miners or the operators should be made 
known a certain length of time before the 
date of the change. A sliding scale of wages 
to rise and fall with the rise and fall of the 
market price of coal was suggested. The 
commission attributed the strikes largely to 
the misconceptions of the miners, of whom 
many were immigrants who had been misled 
into believing that the wealth enjoyed by the 
operators was unjustifiable. It did not find 
insufficient pay a cause of strikes, and the 
miners made no complaint about their wages. 
Education and a desire to save money were 
recommended to the miners by the commis¬ 
sion. 

It is doubtful whether this commission se¬ 
cured a knowledge of the real conditions sur¬ 
rounding the miners. Even though the pres¬ 
ence of foreigners in the State made possible 
the spread of evil doctrines, the Hocking Val¬ 
ley, which furnished the largest number of 
strikes, possessed proportionally the smallest 


12 THE PRE-ORGANIZATION PERIOD. 

number of immigrants of any of the coal 
fields of the State. Mere sentiment is insuffi¬ 
cient to sustain a series of strikes. In 1881, 
when reliable statistics were first gathered, 
ten strikes were reported. One of these was 
caused by unfair weighing, four by a reduc¬ 
tion in wages, four were for an increase in 
wages, and one resulted from the discharge of 
a superintendent. In 1882 fourteen strikes 
were reported, of which all but one were di¬ 
rectly concerned with wages. Later years 
show similar records. By far the greater 
number of the strikes were caused by disa¬ 
greements concerning wages. The strikes 
launched in the fall were for an increase in 
wages; those begun in the springtime were to 
prevent a reduction in wages. 

In 1884 the Hocking Valley experienced a 
strike of great magnitude. Hitherto the most 
costly strike in the State had resulted in a 
combined loss to employers and workmen of 
but little more than fifty thousand dollars. 


THE PRE-ORGANIZATION PERIOD. 


13 


The strike of 1884 occasioned a loss of about 
two million dollars. 

The causes of the strike were at least five 
in number. Most fundamental was the in¬ 
equality of physical conditions in different 
parts of the field. The northern part of the 
valley possessed a seam of coal ten feet thick. 
Farther south the seam was only six feet 
thick. Less work was required to mine a ton 
of coal in the thick seam, and in justice to the 
miners a higher rate per ton should have been 
paid those working the thin seam. The oper¬ 
ators asked for a variation in this respect, but 
their suggestion was met with disapproval by 
the miners of the thick seam, who, strange to 
say, were supported by the thin seam miners. 

The second cause of the strike was the un¬ 
equal distribution of labor arising from the 
condition mentioned above. The mines of 
the thick seam were overcrowded, because 
money was more easily made there. The 
companies were reluctant to discharge the 


14 THE PRE-ORGANIZATION PERIOD. 

superfluous men because their custom at the 
company store would be lost. A prominent 
operator said that there were twice as many 
men in the field as were needed for some time 
preceding the strike. 

Thirdly, the mines were being monopolized, 
and the process brought with it dissatisfaction 
and discontent. In 1883 many of the mines 
were consolidated by two companies—the 
Ohio Coal Exchange, and the Columbus and 
Hocking Valley Coal and Iron Company. 
Working in unison, these two companies 
were acquiring a power that would enable 
them to fix the rate of wages, within certain 
limits. 

Perhaps the direct cause of the strike was 
low wages. Statements taken from the pay 
envelopes of miners who worked at one mine 
during the five months preceding the strike 
indicate that their average monthly wage was 
but slightly over twenty-two dollars. At one 
of the mines of the Ohio Coal Exchange the 


THE PRE-ORGANIZATION PERIOD. 15 


wages of one miner for the months of March, 
April, May, and June was $27.53, $18.55, 
$19.95, and $12.83 respectively. At one of 
the mines of the Columbus and Hocking Val¬ 
ley Coal and Iron Company the average 
monthly earning per man from January to 
June was $17.84. A fair standard of living 
could not be sustained on such wages. 

Lastly, outside competition and the decline 
of the iron industry were disturbing factors. 
The Pittsburg coal field of Pennsylvania was 
gradually winning over the trade which had 
hitherto favored the Hocking Valley. If the 
coal companies could secure a reduction in 
the price of mining from seventy to sixty 
cents per ton, some assurance was felt that 
this competitor could be defeated. It was de¬ 
termined to take this action, which meant a 
heavy loss to the miners. 

The iron industry of the valley was at this 
time meeting with disastrous competition. 
Before the opening of richer deposits of iron 


16 THE PRE-ORGANIZATION PERIOD. 

ore in other parts of the country it was found 
profitable to smelt the ores of the coal meas¬ 
ures. Many smelting furnaces had been con¬ 
structed in the immediate vicinity of the 
mines. The first blast furnace in Ohio was 
constructed in 1808. This and others built 
in the early part of the century burned char¬ 
coal. As the State filled with settlers timber 
became scarce, and coal was substituted for 
charcoal in the furnaces. The iron industry 
of the Hocking Valley dates from 1851. The 
furnaces used the native ores of the coal meas¬ 
ures and burned coal from the nearby mines. 
From three to three and one-half tons of coal 
were used to produce a ton of pig iron. In 
1880 the production of iron amounted to 116,- 
000 tons, and about 400,000 tons of coal were 
necessary to produce this. The iron industry 
had been an important factor in the develop¬ 
ment of the coal field. 

A halt came in the prosperity of the ee&l 
industry contemporaneously with the slack in 


THE PRE-ORGANIZATION PERIOD. 


17 


the coal market. The rich ores of northern 
Alabama were being smelted and the poorer 
ores of Ohio found it impossible to compete 
with them. Alabama ore found a market as 
far north as Pennsylvania and Michigan. A 
reduction of the rate of mining coal to fifty 
cents, it was thought, would place Ohio fur¬ 
naces on a par with those of Alabama by sup¬ 
plying them witn cheaper fuel. The great su¬ 
periority of the Alabama ores was not fully 
realized. But it was not long before the Ala¬ 
bama smelters were making long time con¬ 
tracts at a rate below that which the Ohio 
smelters could quote. 

The difficulty of securing a market for 
commercial coal was almost as great as that 
of finding a market for iron. Ohio coal na¬ 
turally sought a western market, and had 
managed to keep up a fair competition with 
Indiana and Illinois in the Chicago market. 
But the Pittsburg and anthracite fields of 
Pennsylvania were now sending a part of 


18 THE PRE-ORGANIZATION PERIOD. 

their output to this market, obtaining very 
low rates on trains returning to Chicago for 
grain, and on westbound lake steamers. 

Various remedies were proposed. The in¬ 
troduction of machinery and a sliding scale 
of wages were advocated. What was really 
needed was a readjustment which would af¬ 
ford a different outlet for the coal that had 
been used in smelting, and an agreement with 
other fields as to the wages which each might 
pay in order to prevent injustice to some and 
advantage to others. 

In June, 1884, matters had become critical. 
A meeting of miners representing several 
mines had been held in May to secure an 
agreement regarding the driving of entries at 
one of the mines. The employing company 
offered a certain price for the work, but the 
miners refused to accept it and work was dis¬ 
continued. June 23rd notices were posted 
stating that the rate of mining would be re¬ 
duced from seventy to sixty cents per ton, 


THE PRE-ORGANIZATION PERIOD. 19 


and that the price of other labor would be 
lowered in proportion. Soon all of the mines 
in the western part of the valley were idle. 
In the eastern sections the old rate still pre¬ 
vailed and mining continued. 

An effort was made by the operators to 
prevent a strike, but the miners refused to 
accept a reduction in wages. Should a re¬ 
duction be made in their wages a similar re¬ 
duction would follow in other districts, they 
said. Then would come another reduction in 
their own wages. The coal companies said 
they were unable to pay the high rates both 
for mining and shipping, and that they had 
already requested the railroads to give them 
a reduction of twenty cents per ton on coal 
shipped to Columbus. They preferred a long 
period of idleness, rather than work at a loss. 
July fifth a notice was posted stating that as 
the offer of sixty cents had been rejected, it 
was now withdrawn. 

Henceforth the companies adopted a rigid 


20 THE PRE-ORGANIZATION PERIOD. 

policy in dealing with the miners. They must 
now sign the famous iron clad contract to 
secure work. The miner who signed this con¬ 
tract agreed to work for one year at a speci¬ 
fied rate of wages, and to observe such rules 
and regulations as the employers might care 
to make. Steady employment was guaran¬ 
teed, excepting such interruptions as might 
unavoidably occur. Payments were to be 
made on the 15th of each month for work 
done during the last month previous to such 
pay-day. The employe further agreed not to 
join any strike or combination to secure an 
advance in wages, nor to aid or countenance 
such a strike or combination in any way. 
Should he violate the contract he forfeited 
all claim to wages earned but not yet paid. A 
rate of fifty cents perjfig? was offered to those 
caring to work under this contract. 

State militia and detectives were imported 
and the coal field resembled somewhat a mili¬ 
tary camp. The miners were severely pressed 


THE PRE-ORGANIZATION PERIOD. 21 


by hunger as winter approached. Furnaces 
which had been doing an annual business 
worth $2,000,000 stood idle. The outlook for 
a resumption of activity in smelting was un¬ 
favorable. At the last blast it had cost about 
nineteen dollars to produce one ton of pig 
iron. The product had been sold for from 
fifteen to twenty-one dollars per ton, accord¬ 
ing to its quality. Less than one-third of the 
output was of the twenty-one dollar quality, 
but upon this some profit was realized. A 
loss was incurred on the remaining two-thirds. 
The grade of iron which the Hocking Valley 
smelters put on the market at nineteen and 
twenty dollars per ton could be purchased in 
Alabama at the rate of seventeen and eighteen 
dollars per ton, less than the cost of produc¬ 
tion in the Hocking Valley. 

In January, 1885, some of the miners re¬ 
turned to work, and the mines materially in¬ 
creased their output. They accepted the re¬ 
duced rate of wages. They had struck be- 


22 THE PRE-ORGANIZATION PERIOD. 

cause the rate was reduced from seventy to 
sixty cents per ton. They now accepted the 
still lower rate of fifty cents. The State 
miners’ association recommended this to them 
because of the widespread business depres¬ 
sion. About the middle of March a general 
agreement was reached and the strike, after 
continuing nine months came to an end. Nev¬ 
ertheless the miners remained dissatisfied, but 
a peaceful settlement was made to which we 
shall refer in the next chapter. 

In summarizing we may say that this strike 
marks the turning point in the history of the 
coal industry of Ohio as well as of the Hock¬ 
ing Valley. The iron furnaces were aban¬ 
doned and soon fell into ruin. A new market 
was found for the coal which they had con¬ 
sumed. The losses incurred showed the ne¬ 
cessity of a less destructive mode of settle¬ 
ment. It made labor organizations reluctant 
to strike, and it induced capitalists to look 
with favor upon arbitration. It also showed 


THE PRE-ORGANIZATION PERIOD. 


23 


the need of an organization of wider dimen¬ 
sions than any state—one which could control 
the competing fields. 

The year 1884 roughly marks the end of 
the old era of competition among coal dis¬ 
tricts and the beginning of the new era of 
labor affiliation. 



THE PERIOD 
OF 

ORGANIZATION. 





















PART TWO. 


THE PERIOD 
OF 

ORGANIZATION. 

Some use had been made of arbitration 
methods in Ohio before 1884. In 1879, when 
the iron trade was prospering and coal was 
advancing in price, the miners of the Hocking 
Valley demanded an advance in wages, which 
was refused. Committees of miners and 
operators met and established a scale of 
wages which were to rise and fall with the 
rise and fall of the market price of coal. Per¬ 
manent committees were formed to discuss 
and adjust controversies. 

In 1885 the State legislature legalized arbi¬ 
tration tribunals. The courts of common 
pleas were given power, upon being petitioned, 
to issue licenses establishing a tribunal in 



28 


THE PERIOD OF ORGANIZATION. 


each county for the voluntary settlement of 
disputes between employers and workmen in 
the various industries. The signatures of not 
less than forty employes and of four or more 
employers each employing at least ten work¬ 
men, or of the representatives of a company 
employing not less than forty men were re¬ 
quired in. the petition. A tribunal thus formed 
was to exist one year, and consist of at least 
two employers or their representatives, and 
two workmen. These were to select a chair¬ 
man and secretary by a majority vote. The 
members of the tribunal were to receive no 
compensation. A practical application of the 
law was never made, but it indicates a grow¬ 
ing interest in peaceful settlements of indus¬ 
trial disputes. 

In October, 1885, the miners of the Hock¬ 
ing and Ohio Central districts asked for an 
increase of ten cents in the rate of mining, 
which was refused. In November a^conven- 
tion of the miners of the State was held, and 


THE PERIOD OF ORGANIZATION. 


29 


the demand which had been sectional spread 
over the State. Another strike was feared. 
The miners’ executive committee suggested 
that the difficulty be submitted to an arbitra¬ 
tion board representative of both miners and 
operators. The operators accepted, the board 
was organized, investigations were made, and 
near the end of December the board came to 
a deadlock. The miners proposed and the 
operators accepted Allen G. Thurman as an 
umpire. Both parties addressed letters of 
evidence to him, stating their views. 

Three coal fields, said the miners, were 
competing, with the Hocking Valley—those of 
Indiana, western Pennsylvania, and northern 
Illinois. Pittsburg coal ranked first, Hocking 
second, Indiana third, and Illinois fourth in 
the Chicago market. The controversy of the 
board had centered around the Chicago mar¬ 
ket. But the miners claimed that this was not 
the most direct market for the Hocking coal. 
Three separate trades existed—lake, manu- 


30 


THE PERIOD OF ORGANIZATION. 


facturing and domestic. Because of the ex¬ 
tensive market for Hocking coal on the lakes, 
not Chicago prices alone ought to be consid¬ 
ered, but the prices at those places where the 
coal of the respective districts found its prin¬ 
cipal market. The Pittsburg coal went to 
Cleveland, the Hocking to Toledo, and the 
Indiana and Illinois to Chicago. 

The miners attempted to prove that the 
cost of putting coal on cars was less in the 
Hocking Valley than in the other districts, 
and that it cost less to ship it to the lake. 
According to their statement the cost of 
Hocking coal at Toledo was twenty-nine cents 
below the average cost of the other coals in 
their principal markets. Furthermore, after 
the demand had been made for the sixty cent 
rate the operators had advanced the market 
price of coal twenty-five cents per ton, and 
the advanced rates were being paid in some 
parts of the State. 

The operators contended that wages were 


THE PERIOD OF ORGANIZATION. 


31 


in reality higher in the Hocking Valley than 
elsewhere, since, owing to the greater thick¬ 
ness of the Hocking seam, the miner could 
turn out more coal and should therefore re¬ 
ceive less per ton; also that the Hocking miner 
was paid for a larger proportion of the coal 
mined because the screens had finer meshes. 

The two leading representatives of the 
miners and operators wrote Mr. Thurman, 
giving him a brief history of the controversy, 
and asking his decision in the matter. 

In reply Mr. Thurman said that although 
he did not think the testimony on some points 
complete, he understood it his duty to decide 
upon such evidence as had been given. Con¬ 
sidering the testimony, and the manner in 
which the coal trade had been carried on, he 
thought that it had been a profitable one. 
Why should it be carried on at all if it had 
been so disastrous financially? He felt that 
the natural market of the two districts would 
be retained, even if the price of mining were 


32 


THE PERIOD OF ORGANIZATION. 


advanced to sixty cents, and that such an 
advance would still leave the operators rea¬ 
sonable profits. So his decision favored the 
miners. 

Interest in arbitration increased. In 1886 
a dispute arose in another coal field in the 
State, the miners complaining that the de¬ 
cision granting the ten cent advance in the 
Hocking Valley placed them at a disadvant¬ 
age. After some disagreement an umpire was 
chosen, who likewise decided upon a ten cent 
increase. 

An attempt to form a union of miners in 
this country was made as early as 1861, when 
the American Miners* Association was formed 
at St. Louis. Its object was mutual protec¬ 
tion, improvement and education. After en¬ 
joying a rapid growth in Missouri, Illinois, 
Ohio and Maryland, it came to an end with 
the fall in prices at the close of the Civil War. 
Next the Miners* and Laborers’ Benevolent 
Association was organized, and by 1870 had 


THE PERIOD OF ORGANIZATION. 


33 


grown to be of considerable importance. In 
1873 its name was changed to The Miners’ 
National Association. The panic of 1873 de¬ 
stroyed the organization. The miners’ branch 
of the Knights of Labor, known as Trades 
Assembly No. 135, was founded in 1870, but 
did not become influential until after 1879. 

In 1885 an organization was formed at In¬ 
dianapolis which had for its avowed purpose 
the adjustment of market and mining prices 
so as to prevent strikes and lockouts, and to 
secure increased profits to both employers and 
laborers from the sale of coal. An executive 
board was created to devise means of pre¬ 
venting strikes. It began its work by calling 
a conference to meet in Chicago. At this 
meeting Ohio, Pennsylvania, Indiana and 
Illinois were represented. It was the first 
joint meeting of miners and operators, but 
owing to the small attendance nothing was 
accomplished. Another joint convention was 
called to meet at Pittsburg in December. A 


34 


THE PERIOD OF ORGANIZATION. 


scale of wages for each state was discussed, 
and each state was asked to hold joint meet¬ 
ings to consider it or frame one suitable to its 
own wants. 

In February, 1886, miners and operators 
from Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Pennsylvania, 
and West Virginia met at Columbus. A scale 
of wages was fixed for each state to last for 
a period of one year. An annual convention 
was provided for as well as local arbitration 
boards for each state; and a national board 
was organized to settle disputes upon which 
the state boards could not agree. The great 
problem before the association was to control 
competition among the various districts. To 
accomplish this it was necessary to consider 
natural advantages, nearness to market, trans¬ 
portation expenses, quality of coal, cost of 
labor, and any other circumstances that might 
affect the price of coal, and to establish regu¬ 
lations making the market price of coal nearly 
equal for all districts. 


THE PERIOD OF ORGANIZATION. 


35 


The movement met with but partial success. 
Only those districts having a market on the 
Great Lakes took part, and these could not 
agree. First the Illinois operators withdrew; 
then those of Indiana, and the organization 
fell to pieces. 

In 1889 a secret organization was formed, 
but its membership was small and in 1890 it 
affiliated with National Trades Assembly No. 
135, of the Knights of Labor. The new or¬ 
ganization began with a membership of twen¬ 
ty thousand, located mostly in Pennsylvania, 
Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois, under the name 
of the United Mine Workers of America. 

It is unnecessary to give a full description 
of this organization here, but a brief history 
of its growth and an account of its general 
structure will be necessary to show how the 
Hocking Valley has been influenced by it, and 
how it belongs to the great national league of 
workers. 


36 


THE PERIOD OF ORGANIZATION. 


The preamble of the new union stated its 
objects as follows: 

“First—To secure an earning fully com¬ 
patible with the dangers of our calling and 
the labor performed. 

“Second—To establish as speedily as pos¬ 
sible and forever, our right to receive pay for 
labor performed, in lawful money, and to rid 
ourselves of the iniquitous system of spend¬ 
ing our money wherever our employers see fit 
to designate. 

“Third—To secure the introduction of any 
and all well-defined and established appliances 
for the preservation of life, health and limb 
of all mine employes. 

“Fourth—To reduce to the lowest possible 
minimum the awful catastrophes which have 
been sweeping our fellow-craftsmen to un¬ 
timely graves by the thousands; by securing 
legislation looking to the most perfect system 
of ventilation, drainage, etc. 


THE PERIOD OF ORGANIZATION. 


37 


“Fifth—To enforce existing laws; and 
where none exist, enact and enforce them; 
calling for a plentiful supply of suitable tim¬ 
ber for supporting the roof, pillars, etc., and 
to have all working places rendered as free 
from water and impure air and poisonous 
gases as possible. 

“Sixth—To uncompromisingly demand that 
eight hours shall constitute a day’s work, and 
that not more than eight hours shall be worked 
in one day by any mine worker. The very 
nature of our employment, shut out from the 
sunlight and pure air, working by the aid of 
artificial light (in no instance to exceed one 
candle power), would, in itself, strongly in¬ 
dicate that, of all men, a coal miner has the 
most righteous claim to an eight-hour day. 

“Seventh—To provide for the education of 
our children by lawfully prohibiting their em¬ 
ployment until having attained a reasonably 
satisfactory education, and in every case until 
they have attained fourteen years of age. 


38 


THE PERIOD OF ORGANIZATION. 


“Eighth—To abrogate all laws which en¬ 
able coal operators to cheat the miners, and 
to substitute laws which enable the miner, 
under the protection and majesty of the State, 
to have his coal properly weighed or meas¬ 
ured, as the case may be. 

“Ninth—To secure, by legislation, weekly 
payments in lawful money. 

“Tenth—To render it impossible, by legis¬ 
lative enactment in every State for coal oper¬ 
ators or corporations to employ Pinkerton 
detectives or guards, or other forces (except 
the ordinary forces of the State) to take 
armed possession of the mines in case of 
strikes or lockouts. 

“Eleventh—To use all honorable means to 
maintain peace between ourselves and our em¬ 
ployers; adjusting all differences, so far as 
possible, by arbitration and conciliation, that 
strikes may become unnecessary. 

“Twelfth—And to use all honorable means 
to elect members of our organization to legis- 


THE PERIOD OF ORGANIZATION. 


39 


late and enforce laws in State and national 
legislative assemblies that will bear equally 
upon all citizens of the United States, its ter¬ 
ritories and other dominions.” 

The United Mine Workers’ union lived a 
precarious life during its first few years. It 
attempted a strike in 1893 and failed to secure 
its object. It at first failed to secure an eight- 
hour day. But in 1896, with the revival of 
other industries after the long period of de¬ 
pression, its prospects brightened. In 1897 it 
carried on a successful general strike, secur¬ 
ing an average advance of about twenty per 
cent, in wages. Henceforth the union grew 
steadily, and today its membership numbers 
more than 300,000. 

The officers of the union are the President, 
Vice President, Secretary-Treasurer, and an 
Executive Board made up of one member 
from each district over which the jurisdiction 
of the union extends. The President, Vice 


40 


THE PERIOD OF ORGANIZATION. 


President, and Secretary-Treasurer are ex 
officio members of the Executive Board. 

The duties and powers of the President are 
many and extensive. He presides at conven¬ 
tions of the union and at meetings of the 
Executive Board. He signs all bills and offi¬ 
cial documents. He has the power to appoint 
and to remove the officers of the union. He 
orders the compilation of useful statistics, and 
advises his constituency of needed changes 
previous to the conventions. He is at liberty 
to visit all local unions in person or by proxy. 
He devotes his time and attention to the af¬ 
fairs of the union and decides all disputed 
questions concerning the meaning of the con¬ 
stitution, and has general supervision over its 
workings in field and office “as his judgment 
dictates or the exigencies of the case may re¬ 
quire.” 

The Vice President acts as general or¬ 
ganizer, and succeeds the President in case 
of the latter’s death, resignation or removal. 


THE PERIOD OF ORGANIZATION. 


41 


The Secretary-Treasurer takes care of the 
books and documents of the organization. 

The Executive Board constitutes an Inter¬ 
national Board of Conciliation and Arbitra¬ 
tion. It executes the orders of the union 
conventions, and between conventions it has 
full power to manage the ordinary workings 
of the union and to collect necessary assess¬ 
ments. It also has power to control strikes. 
“The International Board,” says the Consti¬ 
tution, “shall have power to order a general 
strike or suspension by a two-thirds vote at 
any time during the year that they deem ne¬ 
cessary, and each member shall have one vote, 
and one additional vote for every two thou¬ 
sand members in good standing they represent, 
or a majority fraction thereof; provided, that 
all District Presidents, Vice Presidents and 
Secretaries be called into joint conference for 
consideration before any general strike or sus¬ 
pension order be issued.” 

To facilitate the working of the organiza- 


42 


THE PERIOD OF ORGANIZATION. 


tion it is subdivided into districts, sub-districts 
and locals, just as our country is divided into 
states, counties and townships. For conven¬ 
ience the districts are usually made co-exten- 
sive with the states. District No. 6 is limited 
by the boundary lines of the State of Ohio. 
For their own government districts may adopt 
such laws as do not conflict with the laws of 
the International Union. 

Each district is further subdivided into sub¬ 
districts with such numbers and territory as 
may be determined by the district to which 
they belong. The sub-districts make their 
own regulations, which must be in harmony 
with those of district and union. District No. 
6 is composed of six sub-districts which are 
designated by their numbers. The most im¬ 
portant work of the sub-district organization 
is to represent the interests of its members in 
the national convention, and to bring such 
influence as will secure just wages and regu¬ 
lations. One of the important problems which 


THE PERIOD OF ORGANIZATION. 


43 


confronted the organization was, how can the 
wages paid the Hocking Valley miner and 
those paid in other districts be so adjusted 
that competition will not be injurious to any 
of the districts? Again, how was the size of 
the screens to be regulated so that none of the 
districts would be favored? These problems 
confronted the joint interstate conference 
which met at Chicago, in 1898. This con¬ 
vention represented the so-called thin vein 
district of Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, and western 
Pennsylvania. Two important agreements 
were made. 

First, that an equal price for mining 
screened lump coal should thereafter form a 
base scale in all of the districts named (Illi¬ 
nois, Indiana, Ohio, and western Pennsylva¬ 
nia), excepting that the State of Illinois and 
the . block coal district of Indiana should pay 
ten cents per ton more than the Hocking Val¬ 
ley, western Pennsylvania, and the Indiana bi¬ 
tuminous districts; also that the price of pick 


44 


THE PERIOD OF ORGANIZATION. 


run of mine coal in the Hocking Valley and 
western Pennsylvania should be determined 
by the actual percentage passed through such 
screen as should be provided. 

Secondly, that the screen adopted for Ohio, 
western Pennsylvania, and the bituminous 
district of Indiana should be of uniform size, 
six feet wide, twelve feet long, and construct¬ 
ed of bars not less than five-eights of an inch 
wide, with a space of one and one-fourth 
inches between the bars, free from obstruc¬ 
tions, and resting upon a sufficient number of 
bearings to hold them in proper position. 

These agreements went far towards the 
solution of the situation which had troubled 
the Hocking Valley and other districts. 
Screens of various kinds and sizes had been 
used. Unequal competition had been influ¬ 
ential in bringing on the strike of 1884. These 
inequalities were now removed. The agree¬ 
ment further fixed a base from which prices 
for mining in the different districts could be 


THE PERIOD OF ORGANIZATION. 


45 


reckoned, having first taken into account 
thickness of seam, distance from market, 
quality of coal, etc. To further simplify mat¬ 
ters a uniform working day was desirable. 
At the time of the Chicago convention this 
varied from nine to ten hours in the different 
fields. On April 1, 1898, the universal eight- 
hour day went into effect. Uniform wages 
were fixed for day labor. 

These simplifications made it possible to 
apply proper differentials in the payment of 
wages. Without material change they have 
been re-adopted by successive conventions. 

The agreements of the sub-districts and 
locals contain minute regulations concerning 
free turns, docking, size of mining rooms, and 
various circumstances and conditions which 
exist about the mines, and which if not regu¬ 
lated would cause endless difficulty. Benefit 
funds are provided by the locals upon the 
death or illness of a miner or one of his fam¬ 
ily. The amount contributed is a voluntary 


46 


THE PERIOD OF ORGANIZATION. 


matter. But when death occurs not only is 
the local expected to contribute, but the coal 
company whose employes constitute the local 
also contributes a specified sum, ranging usu¬ 
ally from five to twenty-five dollars accord¬ 
ingly as the deceased is a child, a wife, or a 
miner. 

Nevertheless trouble sometimes arises be¬ 
tween the members of a local and their em¬ 
ployes. The international constitution requires 
that the local officers first try to secure an 
adjustment. If they fail, they notify the dis¬ 
trict officers, who investigate the cause of 
complaint. If the district officers are unable 
to effect an agreement, they may, with the 
approval of the International President, order 
a strike. But if he disapproves, the final re¬ 
sort is an appeal to the International Execu¬ 
tive Board. A strike can be declared in but 
one other way—by order of the International 
Convention. Since the ultimate responsibil¬ 
ity rests with the international organization, 


THE PERIOD OF ORGANIZATION. 


47 


time is allowed for consideration!, and the 
power to decide lies in the hands of men re¬ 
luctant to cause injury by careless action. 

Not all disputes can be peacefully settled. 
But the questions that arise are carefully con¬ 
sidered, and strikes are not often begun. 



THE 

TRUCK SYSTEM 
OF 

PAYMENT. 



















PART THREE. 


THE 

TRUCK SYSTEM 
OF 

PAYMENT. 

The amount of wages and the method of 
their payment present two distinct problems. 
The latter may be so unfavorable that a lower 
wage paid properly would be better. In the 
Hocking Valley, as well as in other places and 
in various industries a system of wage pay¬ 
ment has grown up familiarly known as the 
truck system. Mining companies, in addition 
to their regular undertaking, sometimes at¬ 
tempt to supply their employes with such pro¬ 
visions as they would ordinarily buy at cash 
stores. Perhaps the motive for the establish¬ 
ment of company stores has been in many in¬ 
stances humanitarian, since ordinary retail 
stores were not always in existence where a 



52 THE TRUCK SYSTEM OF PAYMENT. 

little group of miners might choose to make 
their homes. What the motive may have been 
in each instance it is now impossible to tell. 
Our chief interest is in learning what have 
been the results. 

The coal miner is not noted for his frugal¬ 
ity. He is not inclined to be selfish with his 
money, and oftentimes he finds himself com¬ 
pelled to ask for credit at a cash store, or else 
fall back on his employer and secure some 
kind of an advance payment. This he does 
by the instrumentality of the truck system. 
He obtains advance payment not in currency 
but in merchandise. The company furnishes 
him with checks, or scrip, which he presents 
at the company store or at some store with 
which the company has an agreement. On 
pay-day whatever remains due to the miner 
over and above what he has secured in mer¬ 
chandise is paid in cash. 

This method of paying wages has not been 
confined to recent years. In England, as early 


THE TRUCK SYSTEM OF PAYMENT. 53 


as 1464, a law required cloth manufacturers 
to pay carders, spinsters and other laborers in 
legal money, thus attempting to abolish pay¬ 
ment in truck. In the time of the Chartist 
uprisings, Reybaud tells us in his Etude sur 
les Reformateurs ou Socialistes Modernes, 
some manufacturers succeeded in securing an 
actual reduction in wages by means of this 
method of payment. Such economists as 
Francis A. Walker have shown the disadvan¬ 
tageous position in which the wage earner is 
placed when required in one way or another 
to accept goods for pay in place of money. 

In 1875 the state mine inspector of Ohio 
called the attention of the General Assembly 
to the increasing use of this payment in kind. 
Times were then dull, and the payment in 
scrip placed the laborer in what the inspector 
called a condition of semi-feudalism. Some 
years later the State Bureau of Labor Sta¬ 
tistics undertook an investigation of the mat¬ 
ter. It found that wages were usually paid 


54 THE TRUCK SYSTEM OF PAYMENT. 

on the fifteenth of the month for work done 
during the preceding calendar month. In a 
few instances payment was delayed a week 
or two longer, depriving the miner of money 
earned for as much as one month. Not only 
was the employer who paid promptly placed 
at a disadvantage, but, according to an esti¬ 
mate of the Bureau, this retention of wages 
amounted to a reduction of ten per cent, in 
the value of the wages had they been paid 
when due. Not only was it a loan of the 
wages to the employer for a month or less, 
but it compelled the miners to purchase on 
credit and thus lose the favors which cash 
always secures. The credit buyer was not 
given the choice among different stores, as 
was the cash buyer. This led directly to an 
investigation of the company stores, of which, 
as we have already noticed, there were two 
kinds—those owned by the company or firm 
issuing the checks, and those owned by out- 


THE TRUCK SYSTEM OF PAYMENT. 55 


siders and upon which the company issued 
checks to its employes. 

Various complaints were made to the Bu¬ 
reau concerning the methods employed in 
these stores. One said that trouble would 
continue as long as they existed. Another 
that they kept an insufficient supply of mer¬ 
chandise. The prices of such staple commo¬ 
dities as sugar, coffee, rice, oil, and tobacco 
were shown to be selling at from eighteen to 
twenty per cent, higher at the company stores 
than at the cash stores. Sometimes flour could 
not be obtained and corn bread was substitut¬ 
ed for wheat bread. At one store white beans 
and salt sometimes formed the entire stock. 
Still others complained of discharge upon re¬ 
fusing to trade at the company stores, closing 
of the stores against those to whom the com¬ 
pany was not indebted when the mines closed 
down, and a refusal of credit to the sick and 
disabled. 

The checks used were of various kinds. 


56 THE TRUCK SYSTEM OF PAYMENT. 

Usually figures were printed around the edge, 
each integer representing some denomination 
of money. When purchases were made these 
figures were punched out. The number of 
the check, date of issue, and statement of the 
conditions under which the check was issued 
were generally present. In one instance the 
statement was to the effect that the checks 
were issued for the aid and protection of the 
working class, and that the system would be 
found preferable to currency for small pur¬ 
chases. 

The unpopularity of the system called forth 
the remonstrances of the miners. After the 
miners at one village had held a mass meeting 
to condemn it, they were given a direct inti¬ 
mation that they were expected to deal at the 
company store. Frequently men were dis¬ 
charged because they kept no account at the 
company store. At another time a coal com¬ 
pany gave its men orders on a certain store, 
and at the end of the month requested the 


THE TRUCK SYSTEM OF PAYMENT. 57 


store to allow five per cent, to get the checks 
cashed. This the store refused to do and lost 
the patronage of the company. 

In 1878-9 the legislature passed laws regu¬ 
lating the use of scrip. Selling goods for 
scrip at higher than cash prices was prohibit¬ 
ed. The duty of prosecution lay in the hands 
of the prosecuting attorneys. However, those 
who suffered were afraid to give the neces¬ 
sary information and consequently no prose¬ 
cutions occurred. Few or none of the firms 
which were disobeying the law complied vol¬ 
untarily. 

It cannot be said that the evils of the system 
as we have shown them were universal. Many 
of the employers declared that they were ex¬ 
erting no compulsion upon their employes, 
that wages were being paid monthly according 
to custom, and that could the men wait until 
pay-day for their money they would be paid 
fully in cash. At some places the workmen 
acknowledged that these statements were true, 


58 THE TRUCK SYSTEM OF PAYMENT. 

but at other places they said that to refuse 
their custom at the company store resulted in 
their discharge. The companies did not at¬ 
tempt to pay exclusively in scrip, but as they 
paid but once a month and sometimes two 
weeks or more after payment was due the 
checks were almost necessitated by these long 
intervals. 

An investigating committee was appointed 
which returned a majority and a minority 
report. The majority report stated that 
throughout the central and eastern divisions 
of the Ohio coal field wages were paid al¬ 
most wholly in cash, little being heard of 
scrip. Upon reaching the eastern boundary 
of the Hocking Valley coal field a different 
state of affairs existed. Throughout this 
district checks were in practically universal 
use, and formed the principal medium of 
circulation in many localities. Balances be¬ 
yond the store account were paid in cash, and 
farmers, hucksters, saloon keepers, and so on, 


THE TRUCK SYSTEM OF PAYMENT. 59 


accepted the checks at a discount of from 
fifteen to twenty-five per cent. 

According to the majority report the men 
were not compelled to accept the scrip, but 
did it to secure goods before pay-day. It did 
not find that the stores upon which the checks 
were drawn discounted them in any way. Nor 
were the prices found excessive. The goods 
sold were evidently of standard quality. Nev¬ 
ertheless the system left such ill effects as 
extravagance, and tended to keep the men 
poor and thriftless. As to a fear that many 
would suffer were the scrip abandoned, the 
commissioners thought that in no other way 
could the miners be taught the needed self- 
denial. 

Calling attention to what they considered 
the only merit of the company stores, namely, 
that they sold no liquor, the majority report 
stated that wages should be paid in cash, and 
that in no way should the employe be coerced 


60 THE TRUCK SYSTEM OF PAYMENT. 

to spend his earnings for the benefit of his 
employer. 

The minority report was radically opposed 
to the system. Not one word could it say in 
its favor. It was plainly unjust and out of 
keeping with good principles, a reproach to 
the State, and deserving of severest censure. 
“A canker on the body politic of such ob¬ 
stinate power of endurance that the most 
stringent measures are necessary to its ef¬ 
fective and complete removal.” 

These investigations failed to find a rem¬ 
edy. In 1885 the Bureau of Labor Statistics 
attempted to bring complaint to the prosecut¬ 
ing attorneys in four counties. From this 
nothing resulted. Next the labor commis¬ 
sioner brought the attention of the attorney 
general of the State to a kind of agreement 
which some of the miners were signing by 
which they authorized the employing company 
to pay their future debts with a certain firm 
and deduct the same from their wages, the 


THE TRUCK SYSTEM OF PAYMENT. 61 


agreement reading, “for this and each suc¬ 
ceeding month/’ The attorney general ad¬ 
vised that if the coal company compelled its 
employes to sign this agreement complaint 
should be made to the prosecuting attorney 
of the county in which it had been done. The 
people of one village were now urged to bring 
suit. They pledged their common support in 
an attempt to secure action. The labor com¬ 
missioner sent an agent to assist. But when 
matters came to a point no one could be per¬ 
suaded to act and the agent wrote that the 
people had played the traitor with him. Fur¬ 
ther attempts on the part of the labor bureau 
to suppress scrip were unsuccessful. It final¬ 
ly came to the conclusion that all that could 
be expected in the way of assistance from the 
people who claimed to be the sufferers was a 
hearty clapping of hands and applause while 
the bureau made fruitless attempts to better 
conditions. 

Since 1885 less attention has been paid to 


62 THE TRUCK SYSTEM OF PAYMENT. 

the truck system by the State officials. 
Wages are now paid semi-monthly according 
to law. Nevertheless the company store still 
plays an important part in the community. 
The situation at Nelsonville is typical. Here 
wages are paid in cash on the tenth and 
twenty-fifth days of the month. The wages 
paid on the tenth are for work done during 
the last half of the preceding month. Those 
paid on the twenty-fifth are for work done 
during the first half of the month. In either 
case the time of payment for each half 
month’s work occurs ten days after the com¬ 
pletion of the work. The wages earned dur¬ 
ing the ten days preceding pay-day are with¬ 
held until next pay-day. The company issues 
a statement for this which the miner may use 
as he likes. But he may find some difficulty 
in exchanging it for commodities, however, 
because those who take it must first be as¬ 
sured that there will be no complications when 
they wish to get it cashed. For this reason 


THE TRUCK SYSTEM OF PAYMENT. 63 


a physician stated that he never accepted such 
a statement. 

It is difficult to see what the object of this 
arrangement is. Under it the company is a 
perpetual debtor to its employes to the amount 
of ten days’ wages. If this amounts to twenty 
dollars per man, and a company has in its 
employ five hundred men working steadily, it 
means that during the first ten days these five 
hundred men worked they loaned to the com¬ 
pany $10,000 in the form of labor, which will 
be repaid to them when they finally stop work¬ 
ing for the company. They will receive no 
interest upon it. If each of the five hundred 
men works steadily for the company for an 
average of five years it amounts to an appro¬ 
priation by the company of $3,000 in interest 
on this loan, reckoning at the rate of 6 per 
cent. The twenty dollars owing each of these 
five hundred men after the first pay-day has 
passed is only repaid at the expiration of five 
years. 





64 THE TRUCK SYSTEM OF PAYMENT. 

No doubt the semi-monthly pay-day has in 
itself been a great benefit. The miner’s in¬ 
come is better adjusted to his outgo. He has 
a smaller amount of money to spend at one 
time and so is less likely to squander it. It 
makes him less dependent on the company 
store, unless his patronage is secured by 
threats of dismissal, which are infrequent if 
not altogether absent today. In some cases, 
however, patronage at the company store is 
rewarded at the mine by giving the best work¬ 
ing places to the best patrons, and the like. 
Sometimes they are given entry work, which 
pays better than ordinary work, since entry 
men get free turns, that is they are given all 
the cars necessary to haul their coal. Others 
must wait for their turn at the cars. In a 
large mine eight or ten men are engaged in 
entry work and two or three hundred in the 
rooms. But there are some limitations to the 
giving of such favors because an entry work¬ 
er must be very strong physically. 


THE TRUCK SYSTEM OF PAYMENT. 65 


The company stores probably do not re¬ 
ceive more than one-half or two-thirds of the 
patronage that they formerly commanded. 
Semi-monthly payment, cash stores, and a 
growing tendency on the part of the people 
to go by railroad to the larger towns to trade 
are the chief reasons. And now that the same 
stockholders control both the mines and the 
railroads there is some reason why they en¬ 
courage the people to travel for their sup¬ 
plies. 


































I 









+ 


MAR g ; 1912 












































